Adil Najam
These are distressing times. But this is not a time to be depressed.
This is a time, as Owais reminds us in his last post, to reaffirm our hopes for the future. True defeat would be to give up on those hopes. I have put up the splash image (on the front page) that I have to reassert and to remind ourselves that ultimately Pakistan will be what we make of it. Emergency or no emergency, no one can snatch our Pakistaniat from us. Not until we ourselves surrender it!
Back in May, at a moment of similar desperation, I had written a post where I had sought “solace in the one place where I always find it. In poetry. Especially in Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry.” The video clip I had used there is worth repeating here.
I had written then – and it seems even more pertinent today to repeat it:
Here is Faiz – in his own words, in his own voice. The second half has the same poem masterfully sung by Nayarra Noor. Enjoy this rare find of kalam i Faiz, ba zaban i Faiz. But more than that, think about what he is saying and how it relates to what is happening today.
What I had to say (including about US role) I said at length in an NPR Radio show today (or here). But what Faiz has to say is far more profound.
The words of Faiz certainly cut deeper than anything I can say. They are an invitation to action. But they are also an invitation to thought. An invitation to responsibility. An invitation to continuing the struggle no matter what. An invitation to keep moving onwards despite the odds. An invitation to celebrate the spirit of defiance of those who will not give up.
I had ended that post by reaffirming ATP’s committment “to celebrating all the diverse trials and tribulations of being Pakistan … the mundane as well as the profound; the sad as well as the gleeful; the immediate as well as the long-term.” It is time, today, to repeat that commitment.
This is our commitment to Pakistaniat. We love Pakistan not because everything is right in it. But despite that which is clearly not right. And with a commitment to make right that which has gone astray. Ameen.
From Amitav Kumar’s blog:
“An old and dear friend from Karachi has just sent me this message:
I was released from Central Prison earlier this morning at 4 a.m. However, hundreds of young lawyers have been imprisoned. Their families have no access to the detainees.
We are under serious pressure. Everything is being monitored. Therefore, please request friends, without using any names of Pakistanis, to kick their representatives
@Arslan Haider
Choosing next or choosing best or choosing lesser evil is not the real point of democracy. Even in the most mature democratic countries , people will and do make the wrong choice. The most important aspect of a democratic and civilized society is “Rule of Law” and “Independant Judiciary” who can without any fear safeguard the fundamental rights of the citizens.
The current battle is about the restoration of 1973 constitution , reinstatement of all the Judges and impelementation of 1973 constitution in its letter and spirit.
Once this goal is achieved , yes election will happen, yes we will choose our representative, yes we will make wrong choice again yet we know because of “Rule of Law” and “Independant Judiciary” , we will be able to make these choices again and again.
And I am sure we will be able to make a better choice of our representative sooner rather than later.
Even in the time of these crisis, I will like to be positive. Of course I want to get rid of Musharraf. I will like to be proactive and start thinking who should I choose next. It’s matter of choosing a lesser evil. Out of the current lot, can anyone tell me who is lesser evil? I am sure this is a big question, if you really think hard and honestly you will realize that there is none that you can think of, who can lead us in the right direction. We have the worse dictator in history, and then we got the most corrupt women on earth (BB) and then we got even bigger egoistic, and corrupt Sharif. I am sure there will be quite a few hardcore followers who will deny that their leadership is not corrupt. Who you kidding .. been there and seen all that, not once twice.
My point is all these efforts will lead us nowhere until someone realize that if they really want to see Pakistan as moderate country then they need to invest in the educational infrastructure and partnered it with media to allow the youth moderate voices heard.
West gives billion of dollars, not for the betterment of Pakistan, but to keep its own agenda protected, which is normally implemented through the leader of time.
All I will like to pledge is if the World realizes our sufferings then take the right steps otherwise stay out and mind your own business rather then projecting the next stooge of your choice
My coments are in general, not to promote or degrade anyone. Just some true neutral feelings. unfortunately most of us Pakistanis have very short term memory. We tend to forget what we went through 10 or 15 years ago.
Asthere was Constitution for last five years, it was still illegal for an Army man to indulge in politics.
I am only talking of the intellectual argument.
And the Supreme Court Judges had no escape but to say so.
Which meant court martial.
That is why this time Aitzaz is in Adiala Jail alo.
“The exception expires on November 15 and would be extended
indefinitely. Additionally it will take care of a killing argument
advanced by barrister Aitzaz Ahsan before the Supreme Court that the
controversial Bill merely permitted the President to retain army
office but did not exempt the army chief to indulge in political
activities, including contesting for any public office.”
Sometime the hand of fate acts in mysterious ways!
Without comment:
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad
President General Musharraf has summoned the National Assembly session
to meet, ostensibly to approve a set of legislation to untie legal
knots emerging from the supra-constitutional imposition of emergency
last Saturday.
Musharraf told diplomats on Monday that he needs to resolve certain
legal issues before making a final decision on holding of elections.
According to sources a law removing impediments in Musharraf’s
election is on the top of assembly agenda. The law is prepared on the
pattern of earlier dual office Bill adopted by Parliament in 2004 to
allow General Musharraf to renege on his pledge to doff uniform
towards the end of that year and let him keep both offices of
president and army chief.
The exception expires on November 15 and would be extended
indefinitely. Additionally it will take care of a killing argument
advanced by barrister Aitzaz Ahsan before the Supreme Court that the
controversial Bill merely permitted the President to retain army
office but did not exempt the army chief to indulge in political
activities, including contesting for any public office.
The proposed legislation will take retrospective effect to legalise
October 6 election of General Musharraf through outgoing assemblies
while still in uniform. Attorney General Qayyum Malik has already
hinted at this option and a draft is now ready for adoption by
Parliament. The upper House of Parliament, the Senate, will also be
convened within next couple of days to ratify legislation approved by
the assembly.
A joint session of the two Houses would also be summoned later to
approve the promulgation of emergency after removing a constitutional
hitch under which the emergency can only be proclaimed by the
President and is subject to a review by the Supreme Court. Musharraf
imposed emergency as army chief to avoid these complications and to
assume the unprecedented power of amending the Constitution.
Another law being contemplated is to provide legal basis to the
reconstitution of the Supreme Court in order to nullify the ruling
given by a seven-member Bench headed by the deposed chief justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and comprising six other defiant judges. it
declared the emergency and the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO)
as illegal and ultra vires of the Constitution.